Editorial voices from elsewhere
Editorial voices from newspapers around the United States as compiled by the Associated Press:
For all those people who blamed Sam Walton for destroying Main Street, U.S.A., news of 269 Walmart closings worldwide make for especially poignant news.
As much as McDonald’s has defined chain eating establishments, Walmart stands as a symbol of all-purpose merchandising under one large roof. The chain has been both praised and vilifed, but there is no question it has altered the American retail landscape.
Its downsizing signals that even huge chains need to reposition themselves. In Walmart’s case, this appears less due to the effect on online shopping on the “mall mentality,” which has led other chains to close stores, and more on oversaturation.
Walmart is here to stay, but the closings signal that even the biggest corporate giants must face the reality of changing times. For this chain, it carries special meaning because this time, Walmart is reacting to change, not creating it.
There’s some good news coming out of West Virginia’s colleges: Although enrollment rates are dropping, the number of students graduating has increased.
More students with more degrees means good things for West Virginia. A local, trained and skilled workforce is high on the list of things employers look for when they move or expand.
Hill told lawmakers part of the reason for the improved graduation rate is colleges are enrolling students who need remedial classes, which traditionally don’t offer credit, in credit-earning classes and offering additional academic support. Students who need remedial education historically don’t graduate on time, if ever.
West Virginia continually ranks low in the number of residents enrolled in college, and the number of those holding degrees is even fewer.
But today’s students have choices. For those who feel a four-year college isn’t for them, community college, vocational training and other opportunities are available. After all, not all fields require a four-year degree. Jobs that don’t require as much training in a classroom setting, such as those associated with natural gas drilling, have seen an increase in interest and draw more students to community colleges in the northern part of the state.
Not only does that benefit the gas industry, but also students who might not otherwise have the opportunity or interest in obtaining post-high school education.
Choice in education is essential in expanding the opportunities to our state’s students and the economy. With more students earning degrees, more workers will be available and ready.
Shoot first, repent later.
An Ohio man is experiencing that after fatally mistaking his own 14-year-old son for an intruder.
Police say the Cincinnati boy had left for the school bus stop on Jan. 12, but apparently returned home, entering through a back door. His father heard a noise in the basement, opened a door there and shot the teen.
What happened to “Who goes there?” What happened to “Call 911!”? Sadly, guns often give people a false sense of security – and a false sense of bravado. Instead of summoning help, they take on their own defense.
Conventional “wisdom” that guns make us safer is wrong, sometimes fatally. A study by New York University School of Medicine authors that looked at 27 developed nations found a significant correlation between the number of guns per person and the number of firearm-related deaths.
Further, a 2013 study in the Annals of Internal Medicine found that having a gun in the home makes occupants more likely to successfully attempt suicide – and that homeowners who keep guns are more likely to be victims of homicide.
Guns may make people feel safer. They don’t always work that way, as the untimely death of the 14-year-old from Cincinnati so tragically shows.